A comparison of health-promoting practices of Nevada rural and urban nurses

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to compare health-promoting lifestyle practices of rural and urban nurses in Nevada. Pender\u27s Health Promotion Model provided the theoretical framework for this study. A total of 266 randomly sampled rural and urban nurses participated in completing two self-administered questionnaires, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile and a biographical data sheet; Eight research questions were answered in the study. Seven of the research questions sought to determine if significant differences existed between rural and urban nurses on the total Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) and six subscales. No significant differences were identified between the two groups. The eighth research question sought to determine if there were significant relationships between health-promoting lifestyle practices and select demographic variables of rural and urban nurses. Significant relationships were identified between age and years of nursing experience and the subscales of Health Responsibility, Nutrition and Stress Management for the rural group. For the urban group, significant relationships were identified between age, years of nursing experience, hours worked per week and income and the HPLP, and subscales of Health Responsibility, Nutrition and Stress Management. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Otro Mundo es Posible - Transcultural Tongues and Times of Change

In an era of economic globalization shaped by hegemonic capitalism, resistance movements introduce different alternatives for a life beyond capitalism. The powerful and dominant system logic criticizes such movements for being utopian dreamers with no pragmatic sense of plausible social change. The 'ontology of the possible' for emancipatory social change is dominated by the coloniality of power and epistemic violence of modernity. Time becomes a powerful measurement tool developed by Western clocks in order to measure the successes and failures of social movements and categorize their impact on social change. Based on the analysis of an ethnographic research with the campaign for Marichuy in Mexico, I argue that this indigenous movement constructs a conception of time related to social change, which challenge the Western notion of a measurable evolutionary timeline. Such iconoclastic strategy of indeterminacy becomes their emancipatory potential, which envisions the possibilities for emancipatory social change. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a global conversation with scholarship and activism. Through a combination of theoretical literature and ethnographic data material, this thesis intends to challenge the status quo conception of time horizons for change

Primordial Black Hole Atoms

Primordial black holes are thought to have been formed at the early stages of the universe in the presence of non-homogeneous density distributions of dark matter. We are working under the assumption that dark matter consists of elementary low mass particles, specifically, spin 1/2 fermions. We further assume that dark matter is electrically neutral, thus its main interaction is gravitational. We investigate dark matter spin 1/2 fermions in orbit around a black hole atom and consider mass ranges for which the quantum description is appropriate. Solutions to the Dirac equation are utilized to describe the radial mass distribution of primordial black hole atoms. Stable black holes atoms could be the seeds for galaxy formation

The immunomodulatory effect of inhaled granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in cystic fibrosis. A new treatment paradigm

Lars Heslet1, Christiane Bay2, Steen Nepper-Christensen31Serendex ApS, Gentofte, Denmark; 2University of Copenhagen, Medical Faculty, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology, Køge Hospital, DenmarkBackground: Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) experience recurrent infections and develop chronically infected lungs, which initiates an altered immunological alveolar environment. End-stage pulmonary dysfunction is a result of a long sequence of complex events in CF, progressing to alveolar macrophage dysfunction via a T-helper 2 (TH2) dominated alveolar inflammation with CD20 T-cell activation, induced by the chronic infection and showing a poor prognosis. There is great potential for treatment in transforming the TH2 into the more favorable T-helper 1 (TH1) response.Methods: Current literature in the PubMed database and other sources was reviewed in order to evaluate aspects of the innate alveolar host defense mechanisms and the potential impact on the immunoinflammatory response of inhalation of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in patients with CF.Results: It seems that the cellular host defense, (ie, the alveolar macrophage and neutrocyte function) and the inhaled GM-CSF interact in such a way that the so-called tolerant alveolar environment dominated by the TH2 response may be transformed into an active TH1 state with a normal pulmonary host defense. The shift of the TH2 to the TH1 subset dominated by specific and unspecific antibodies may be achieved after the inhalation of GM-CSF. A clinical report has shown promising results with inhalation of GM-CSF in a chronically-infected CF patient treated with several antibacterial and antifungal agents. Inhaled GM-CSF transformed the tolerance toward the Gram-negative infection reflected by the so-called TH2 subset into the more acute TH1 response characterized by recruitment of the T-cells CD8 and CD16, a condition related to better-preserved lung function. This indicated a transformation from a state of passive bacterial tolerance toward the Gram-negative infecting and colonizing bacteria. This GM-CSF effect cannot be achieved by administering the drug via the IV route because the drug is water-soluble and too large to penetrate the alveolocapillary membrane.Conclusions: Inhalation of GM-CSF seems to be a novel way to positively modulate the alveolar environment toward an altered immunological state, reflected by a positive change in the pattern of surrogate markers, related to better preservation of pulmonary function and thus improved outcomes in CF patients. It is suggested that future studies examining standard endpoint variables such as number of infections and amount of antibiotics used should be supplemented by surrogate markers, to reveal any positive cellular and cytokine responses reflecting changes in the alveolar compartment after GM-CSF inhalation. The immunological alveolar environment should be monitored by a specific pattern of surrogate markers. Continued research is clearly indicated and the role of inhaled GM-CSF in modulating pulmonary host defense in CF patients should be investigated in a large study.Keywords: cystic fibrosis, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, TH1 response, TH2 subset, surrogate marker